The first biography of the beloved entertainer who broke the prime-time color barrier
 
When The Flip Wilson Show debuted in 1970, black faces were still rare on television and black hosts nonexistent. Then came Flip—to instant acclaim. His show dueled Marcus Welby, M.D. for the top spot in the ratings. His characters and catchphrases fixed themselves in America’s consciousness, and he helped launch new talent, including Richard Pryor and George Carlin. But how did Clerow Wilson, a motherless Jersey City grade-school dropout, become the celebrity heralded on the cover of TIME as “TV’s First Black Superstar”? Drawing on interviews with family, friends, and celebrities, Kevin Cook offers an inspiring salute to a self-made star who fell from grace, but not before blazing a trail for generations of entertainers to come.

On a side note; When I was a kid I loved listening to Flip Wilson and Rich Little. Every once in awhile my family and I would go to a really nice restaurant name "Baby Dove" in Denver outskirts, which had a killer Dessert bar. We're waiting on food, I look at the next table in front of me and those two are sitting there eating their dinner(Must have had a show in town). I was excited as all.$%# and told my parents. They looked and did that..maybe, maybe not thing, so I pushed them to ask. One of them finally relented, it was..I did the I know it thing...and they kind as could be...talked for a short moment and then returned back to their dinner. Made me and even happier boy then the dessert bar had already done. Cool people, and a memory that lasted a lifetime. So, I value the album, and picked up the book, but..ya know..time for all the books ya buy??? Letting these go for a really good price. Sorry, no autograph..pretty sure that went the way of my original baseball cards via Mom(Most baseball card collecting kids from the 1970's understand and cringe at this statement...She tossed them out. grrr P.S, I replaced them, as you can see, with a small sample in my listings. :-)